Uncomplicate It
by Majikthize
Summary: “First she was going to get that chocolate. Lots of it. Then, she thought, flipping out her cell phone and hitting the speed dial, she was going to get her man.” Spoilers for Affinity and SGA Trio. Sam/Jack established. Pete features but in a good way


I feel a bit sorry for poor old Pete. He was such a chump. I wanted to give him his very own redeeming "Kerry" moment.

This is set during S4 Atlantis after Trio and assumes Sam returned to earth for a short while to recuperate from her broken leg.

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She'd been back on earth less than a day and she was already missing the relative peace and order of Atlantis. That sounded bizarre even to her own mind, since Atlantis was hardly ever quiet and peaceful but… compared to a mall full of bargain hunting women and very young children, it was like a Zen garden up a Tibetan mountain.

She found herself tapping her one set of good toes impatiently as the elevator stopped yet again while a couple of women with overlarge strollers vied for space in the cramped compartment. If it wasn't for her damn leg she'd have taken the stairs; even with an ultra lightweight cast, the half a dozen bags of shopping, crutches and a treacherously polished marble floor forced her to admit she'd be a walking (well hobbling) disaster area on the stairs.

All this just to get to that one last earthly comfort that the stargate never spewed with their regular supplies from home. She requested it every time as her own personal treat but, somehow it nearly always seemed to be missing. She almost imagined it was deliberate; Jack striking it off the requisition sheet as penance for her taking a job in another galaxy and making a difficult relationship nigh on impossible but then she knew he probably never got to see those requisitions so that was stupid of her to think that. And anyway, she knew he understood better than anyone why it was the way it was and he'd never deny her a few home comforts if he knew she wanted them. It didn't matter anyway; the practical upshot was Atlantis offered many wonderful things to behold but the taste of her favourite chocolate melting on her tongue wasn't often one of them.

Why the heck was that particular shop on the third floor of this badly thought out mall anyway? She was going to buy the whole damn shop up when she got there and, probably eat it in one sitting too.

She shifted awkwardly towards the back of the compartment allowing a little more room so both moms could load on and finally stroller madness ended in an uncomfortable truce and the elevator doors closed whisking them up a level where, the whole process repeated itself in reverse when Sam announced her intention of getting off to yet more glares of inconvenience to the stroller moms who clearly thought she had no right to be using their elevator. Finally free of the confines of the cramped space she limped forward towards the shop at the very end of the row - of course, not only on the third floor but at the opposite end to the elevators. Surely this was a conspiracy! At least the food hall was up here too so a bagel and a coffee and a good rest of her now aching leg was scheduled before the chocfest began.

The food hall consisted of a loose conglomeration of open plan cafes and fast food restaurants - the usual suspects - with a communal seating area off to the edge just positioned nicely to give a great view down the open centre of the mall. A tall conical structure, planted all around with fake greenery rose from the base like some kind of pseudo Christmas tree, reaching up so the tip was just a foot below the apex of the glass roof. Far down below on the basement level delicate filigree strands of water jetted in graceful arcs across a pool full of the ubiquitous quarters and dimes. Sam gazed briefly at it wondering, not for the first time, why people always felt so compelled to throw money into pools. Daniel would probably know; she would have to ask him sometime. The strong smell of freshly ground coffee assaulted Sam's nostrils, bringing her thoughts once more to the job in hand and she hobbled towards the nearest counter. For once Sam's luck was in and the assistant in the cafe she chose to order from, seeing her struggling with shopping and crutches, offered to bring her order to the table while she found a seat.

Just as she was about to head for a table in the corner so she could look out over the mall below some more, a small person, no higher than her mid thigh barrelled into her. Teetering slightly from the shock and impact she managed to right herself before landing on her ass and turned slightly irritated towards the heavily pregnant woman crying "Mikey! Mikey stop! Come here!" Sam quickly assessing the situation grabbed the toddler's arm stopping him from escaping as his mom puffed up, "Oh thank you" the woman said "He's runs everywhere; it's so hard to keep up. Oh sorry, are you OK?" She added breathlessly, seeming to notice Sam's crutches and cast for the first time.

"It's fine, no damage done." Sam smiled reassuringly.

"Rachel!" A man's voice called out, "I'm sorry he slipped out..." the voice, now familiar to Sam as her head snapped around in recognition. He approached slowly "Sam?" He said, his expression mirroring her own.

Before her, as shocked as she, stood Pete Shanahan.

"Pete!" She replied, trying to sound upbeat but slightly unbalanced at seeing her ex fiancé here and in such an unexpected way.

"Sam!" he repeated somewhat unnecessarily and then, seeming to remember himself added, "Uh, Rachel, this is Sam an...old friend. Sam, Rachel, my wife and, er, Mikey, my kid."

Mikey offered a shy smile and pulled himself behind his mother's legs while the woman, Rachel as Sam had now been introduced, smiled warmly and said "Nice to meet you" sticking out a hand in greeting.

Sam smiled slightly bewildered and not really sure how to react took the proffered hand and then took that of the cute Mikey who, seeing his mother doing it, decided to copy. "Uh, hi, nice to meet you." She managed to squeak out through a slightly tight throat.

There was a moment's awkward pause. Rachel smiled at Sam and shot looks between her and her husband. "Well, come on Mikey, before you have an accident. Pete, get me a sub too please." She dropped a slightly possessive kiss onto his cheek and walked off in the direction of the restroom.

Pete shrugged "toilet training." He said, "Mikey's a little too enthusiastic about it all."

Sam nodded and, not quite knowing what to add simply said, "Yeah…well, that's a good thing I imagine."

"Yeah." Pete added with an awkward laugh.

They stood looking at each other for a long moment before Sam shook herself and spoke, "Uh, so you're still in Colorado Springs? And you're married with a kid. Wow!"

Pete nodded. "You sound surprised?"

Sam, suitably admonished added, "Uh, no, I mean, congratulations... and on, er, Mikey there, he's great… oh and another one on the way. That's…great!"

Pete sighed and smiled. "Yeah...yeah I met Rachel at work. Here obviously, I never did move back to Denver."

Sam nodded, finding herself drawn bizarrely into the small talk they seemed to have settled on. "Mark mentioned you were married. How long?"

"Nearly four years." Pete shrugged. "I met her about a month after we… well, it was a bit whirlwind because we'd only been seeing each other three months before I proposed. She sad yes straight away so we thought, why wait and we married the next month. Mikey cam along quickly after that and now here we are, little girl due in a few weeks to complete the family."

Sam winced slightly remembering how long she'd taken to give him a yes and also recalling a certain conversation about kids and day-care with another man… she shook those thoughts off and smiled, genuinely pleased for Pete's happiness. "That's great! I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks!" Pete offered with a smile.

They stood in silence again for another moment, both looking everywhere but at each other. Eventually Pete broke the silence, "So, how are you? You look great, by the way, broken limbs aside. Long hair now, huh? "

Sam looked at her own strapped up leg and unconsciously tossed her head to flick hair off her face. "Oh you know. I'm OK. Same old Same ole." Sam shrugged. "Leg's not so bad, aches a little and itches like crazy… Oh, yeah, I grew my hair out."

"Did you leave the Air Force then?"

"Oh, no, still Air Force." She added with a bright smile. "Just fancied a change."

"Still up at Cheyenne Mountain with that, er, programme?" Pete asked glancing around.

"No, actually...well, sort of." Sam replied. "Same area I guess but different division. I, uh, well, I've been working abroad, shall we say, for a while. In fact, I'm only here because of this," She gestured towards her broken leg with a crutch. "Work related injury shall we say, qualified me some time off so... here I am. Oh I got promoted. I'm a Colonel now." She added brightly.

"That's great! Congratulations." Pete added I don't think I want to guess what abroad means in you line of work. Dare say it's somewhere I've never heard of."

"Oooh…you might have." Sam smiled nervously.

Pete smiled back and they both felt a little more at ease with each other. "So, aside from work?" He gestured for her to elaborate.

"Oh, uh, not much, y'know, work can be pretty intense and you know what I'm like. Saved the galaxy a few times. Couple of galaxies actually, the usual thing." She shrugged.

Pete laughed at the ease of her words, "I always said having a superhero for a girlfriend was…" He trailed off realising where the discussion was going. "…Oh well, you know. I'm sure it's been… uh… so, you're not married or anything?"

Sam laughed gently at his discomfort, "Uh no, no I'm not."

Pete sucked his lip as if carefully deciding his next words. "Funny, you know, I thought you would be, at least, with someone. When we....broke up, I kind of had this idea that there was this guy... You know, you never said it but, I got this vibe... I thought... "

"Ummm...o-kay…" Sam added when he paused, not really knowing how to respond or even how to explain things to anyone, least of all him.

Pete continued, "It's just, Sam, I guess it thought all this time it wasn't me, that it wasn't that I wasn't good enough. I thought it was just you who, y'know, had this thing for someone else and that you needed to work that out. I thought it must be something special for you to break up what we had."

Sam closed her eyes briefly. "Pete. It wasn't you, and yes, for the record I did...I do have... something... someone else going on somewhere with this guy and it's been there a while and... well, it's pretty complicated not to mention long distance like you'd never believe…actually, you probably would but, anyway the distance really doesn't help." She paused for a deep breath and wondered why the heck she was telling him this. "So I guess, your instincts were right and I'm sorry I wasn't more honest with you about that at the time but… I guess what I did to you was terrible anyway and I didn't want to make it worse by you thinking I was in love with someone else."

"Even though you were?"

Sam bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah." She confessed, "Sorry."

Pete shook his head. "Sam, I'm so over it. Honestly I am. I've no time for bitterness. Look at you, I mean, don't get me wrong I love my wife and my kids and I feel nothing for you now... no offence by the way,"

"None taken." Sam responded actually slightly hurt despite herself.

"But your gorgeous, you're smart and you deserve to be happy too." Pete paused but Sam was too surprised to say anything. Eventually Pete filled the silence with a simple question. "Does he love you?"

"Oh, uh, pretty sure he does yeah." Sam said, slightly uncomfortable talking about her complicated relationship with her ex CO to her ex fiancé. "It's just..."

"Complicated." Pete supplied. "Yeah." He shook his head. "Uncomplicate it Sam, it'll be the best damn thing you ever did, trust me I know." He sighed and glanced behind her towards the direction his wife had recently gone in before turning back to her. "You know you did me the best favour that day you gave me back that ring. If not for you I would never have moved to the Springs and I would never have met Rachel and I can honestly say I've never been happier than I am now so... I mean it when I say you deserve to be happy. I really do." His attention was diverted behind her as his wife and son strolled back from the restroom. "Hey, Mikey, you're so clever!" He called. "Seeya round Sam. Maybe." With that he brushed past Sam to sweep his little boy off his feet in a bear hug.

Sam smiled and waved a quick goodbye and watched them as they took seats in the opposite side of the complex. "Uncomplicate it." She mumbled to herself as she watched the happy family scene play out. "Sure. Several thousand light years between us; no obstacle at all."

The waitress approached with her order and she smiled a thank you. First she was going to get that chocolate. Lots of it. Then, she thought, flipping out her cell phone and hitting the speed dial, she was going to get her man and… if a few stolen moments and brief encounters was all they had at the moment - heck if it was all they could ever have - she'd make sure every damn minute she could was as uncomplicated as possible.

He answered on the first ring. "Hey Sir… uh, Jack," She winced and corrected herself, "It's me. Wanna go fishing?"

~End~

Author's Notes:

When I originally wrote this I wrote it as Sam and Jack not actually together but, sort of getting there. I later decided that was just ridiculous since there was no reason why they shouldn't bee so I made them together but... finding it hard going. It got a re-write and I hope that comes across.

Huge thanks to Dee for improving this with her beta and for the encouragement to publish.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review and I promise to respond.


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